Dutch metallers After Forever have decided to break up. A message from the band reads as follows:

"Dearest fans,

"After nearly 15 years and with heavy hearts, we have decided to call an end to a great and exciting time as After Forever.

"We are extremely proud of what we have accomplished, and especially of the road we took to get here.

After Forever has never been a band that repeated itself; we always tried out new things, even though many of them were certainly done at a risk. We think that that has been one of the reasons we’ve always enjoyed enormous support from all our loyal fans.

"The break we took in 2008 made us appreciate all the more what we’d experienced. Now more than ever, we can look back on so many fantastic moments, something we never would have expected to be part of when we started the band all those years ago.

"However, that break also made us aware of the fact that we can only continue After Forever with the energy, the full 110%, that we have always put into it and we’ve noticed lately that there is something missing.

We have always been musicians who create music with lots of passion, and during the break we built up our own lives again and have been musically active and experimenting in several genres.

"Although After Forever is very special to us, we feel that we have reached the point where we need to explore the world of music in each of our own different ways.

"Thus, we’ve decided to quit while we’re ahead.

"We are sincerely proud of every CD; each album represents a unique period, and all comes together in our last album After Forever, which made all of our dreams possible.

"We hope After Forever will continue to be a source of inspiration for new bands and musicians alike so that our music can live on.

"As band members, but also as friends, we’ve experienced so very much; highs and lows, good times and bad. We'll keep supporting each other in all of our various individual projects and continue inspiring one another in making music.

"Our MySpace page will be used for updates on all of these projects and of course After Forever-related news, as well.

"You can be sure that this is not an easy decision for any of us. We'd like to thank all of our fans for their support, also during the break.

"We know that this will be a big disappointment to you, dear fans, and it makes it that much harder for us. You have always given us your all and it was our pledge, in turn, always to give at least as much back to you for as long as we exist. In this moment, that’s unfortunately just not possible, so we'd rather leave you all the albums

and gigs we achieved with maximum input.

"We'd also like to thank Nuclear Blast, TEG and MOJO for their patience and enthusiasm, the live crew, the fan club, the fan sites and everybody who's helped in every way possible.

Oh god damnit. Indeed the worst news of the year. i'm going to slit my wrists after not getting a new A.F album in 2009. Floor better release a solo album or a duet with the new Tristania album or soemthing, I took this like a spiked punch to the balls.

Well that's fucking terrible. Why would the band break up at the absolute peak of their career? I would have loved to see where they could have gone with their next album. Not that they could really go anywhere else, mind.